Perot didn't bother with Carter. He sent a squadron of company employees led by a former colonel over to Iran. One of the men, an Iranian employee, incited a mob to storm the prison. They successfully freed all 13,000 prisoners, making it the largest jailbreak in history.

In 1984, General Motors bought EDS for $2.5 billion, much of which went to Perot himself.

Later that year, not to let his new wealth go to waste, he bought the Magna Casta for $1.5 million. The real one, Signed by Bad King John in 1215. He donated the document, which had been held all those years by an aristocratic English family, to the National Archives in Washington.

Earlier this year, he began the now controversial effort to bring New York's Museum of the American Indian to his hometown for $72 million. He offered to build a sprawling, 10-acre complex to display the museum's many collections. It could have been an offer the museum could not refuse, except that New York Mayor Edward I. Koch and Governor Mario M. Cuomo strenuously objected to it, and the Attorney General has promised to oppose the move in court. The fight continues to brew in New York.

Perot is watching and waiting. Meanwhile, he dropped $10 million to improve the Dallas public school system.

Now Harvard has entered the fray. Perot has said he would love to display some of the Peabody's collection in his city. The University may now work out a deal to make the man one of the greatest. Harvard benefactors in recent decades